Nagasaki court recognizes 15 of 44 plaintiffs as A-bomb survivors eligible for certificates

NAGASAKI — The Nagasaki District Court on Sept. 9 recognized 15, including two deceased, out of 44 plaintiffs as atomic bombing survivors in a class action lawsuit and ordered the Nagasaki prefectural and municipal governments to issue them A-bomb survivor’s certificates.

The Japanese government issues “hibakusha” A-bomb survivor’s certificates to people within around 7 kilometers east-west and approximately 12 km north-south of the Nagasaki atomic bombing hypocenter. The certificates entitle the bearers to special health benefits to cover damage inflicted by the bomb and its aftereffects. The 44 plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit, including four who have already passed away, had remained certificate-less, because they were outside the government-designated relief zone when the United States dropped the bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, even though they were inside the 7-12 km east-west range from the hypocenter.

After the plaintiffs’ defeat in a similar lawsuit was finalized by the Supreme Court in 2019, they reapplied for the certificates. The applications were rejected, and they filed another lawsuit seeking to overturn the rejection. The point of contention in the latest court battle was whether the plaintiffs qualified as “those who were in a situation where they would be physically impacted by the radiation from the atomic bomb” defined by Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Assistance Act.

In July 2021, while the Nagasaki trial was still ongoing, the Hiroshima High Court’s ruling, which recognized all 84 people who were exposed to radioactive “black rain” outside of Hiroshima’s designated relief zone as atomic bomb survivors, was finalized. The plaintiffs in the Nagasaki lawsuit argued that, like those in the Hiroshima suit, it cannot be ruled out that they have inhaled radioactive particles that fell as ash and other forms through breathing, eating and drinking, and that they may have suffered damage to their health from the atomic bomb’s radiation.

On the other hand, the defendants, Nagasaki Prefecture and the city of Nagasaki responsible for issuing the certificates as a legally delegated duty, had countered the plaintiffs’ claim, saying that the survey results and opinions that the plaintiffs cite as grounds lack reliability and accuracy. They argued that there are no grounds to make a different judgment from the prior lawsuit, where the plaintiffs’ defeat was finalized.

(Japanese original by Arina Ogata and Takehiro Higuchi, Nagasaki Bureau; video by Kazuki Kawashima)